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The Asus Transformer Prime Looks as Beautiful as You’d Expect

Don’t get me wrong, the original Transformer was not too bad looking, but I wished it was as light and thin as a Galaxy Tab 10.1. Then I saw what they were doing with the Asus UX21 Zenbook and after being seriously impressed, I realized that they might use that sort of hardware in the next-gen Transformer hybrid.

So you’d get not only a very thin and light “tablet”, but you’ll also get a light and thin keyboard as well, making the new Transformer much like a little brother of the Zenbooks. Lo and behold, that’s exactly what Asus did.

The whole device is made out of aluminum, has a brushed surface, much like the Zenbooks, and a chicklet keyboard as well, which is becoming standard these days. It looks like it would be a joy to type on it, and it’s one more reason why these types of devices have the potential to become laptop replacements either in the near future or within a few years, depending on your computing needs.

One other reason is that they are starting to have powerful chips inside them. Will they be as powerful as an Intel Core i5? No, but they will still pack more than enough power to render websites almost instantly and show them to you as fast as your Wi-Fi connection can handle.

Tegra 3 is a big reason to be excited about this device. Not only does it promise longer battery life because of its 5th companion core, that uses 20x less power than the other 4 cores put together (according to Nvidia’s CEO), but it will help the Transformer become a great all around device with fast browsing, fast app processing, and console-quality games.

Asus hasn’t confirmed either way, but I really wish the Transformer Prime would arrive directly with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Not for me, because I could wait a month or two for the update, but for them. The reviews would be much better and the device would get so much more praise if the reviewers would be impressed not only by the beautiful hardware, but also by the software. Excitement around it would go through the roof.

I’m still surprised Google didn’t want to showcase the “unification” of their OS by launching it with both a tablet and a smartphone. Maybe they didn’t do it because they didn’t want to upset Samsung or something. But still. Oh well, I’m sure the Transformer Prime will be sold in millions of units in the next few months, and it will probably become the most popular single Android tablet/hybrid device.

Hopefully, they’ll decide to sell it as a “complete package” with the keyboard included for $500. That would be a true differentiating factor compared to other tablets. Plus, they’d help push this movement that says these types of devices are laptop AND tablet replacements. It’s the evolution of both. They are leading the way here, and they should make that stick in people’s minds, because it would only end up helping them sell more of these devices later.